Years

News Archive

The National Council of Churches is pleased to welcome the Reverend Tammy Wiens as the director of Christian education and faith formation. Wiens will begin in this new position on February 1, 2018.

Wiens comes to us after a year of ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) national office as associate for Christian formation. In this capacity she nurtured, equipped, and inspired Christian educators, campus pastors, and spiritual leaders through web resources, curriculum development, workshops, and mentoring.

The Rev. Robert I. “Bob” Rasmussen, a mission co-worker in Malawi from January 1986 until his retirement in August 1992, passed away at his home in Michigan on Thursday, Jan. 25, at age 90. After he retired, Rasmussen and his wife Edith returned to Malawi many times, sometimes for months at a time, to train pastors and to preach and teach.

I’ve always been stubborn. My mother has a picture of me as a child, with arms crossed and a determined squint that sums up most of my childhood and possibly my adult personality. Difficult, resistant, overly critical — I’ve been called many things throughout my life. Maybe that’s why I’ve always enjoyed Wendell Berry’s poem “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front.” Throughout this piece, Berry eloquently encourages the reader to do things like: “… do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. … Ask the questions that have no answers.” Berry not only empowers us to be cantankerous, but indeed goes on to warn that if we are not, we are putting our individual and, ultimately, communal moral compass at risk. Finally, my “troublesome” traits are vindicated!

The Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE) begins its annual gathering here today under the theme of “Deep & Wide: Boundless Hospitality.” The four-day event features worship services — two with Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Stated Clerk the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, II preaching — along with forums, interactive plenary sessions, a spirituality center and more than 75 workshops.

When David Gambrell found out he was to be honored by Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a distinguished alum on January 31, he quipped, “I guess I’m going to have to get a haircut.” Notoriously self-effacing, the Presbyterian Mission Agency worship associate is one of two alumni who will receive the annual award this year, given to those who have distinguished themselves by their service to the church or seminary.

First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen, New Jersey is seeking the release of an Indonesian Christian member, picked up last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Roby Sanger was dropping his daughter off at middle school when the agents approached and took him into custody. He now faces deportation.

Presbyterian News Service is continuing the tradition begun about 15 years ago in Presbyterians Today of selecting the year’s top 10 films. The list is different from those appearing in secular journals because the primary criteria are spiritual and moral/ethical values, not artistic ones.

Presbyterian Mission colleagues, the Rev. Dr. Ray Jones and the Rev. Dr. Jason Brian Santos in Theology, Formation and Evangelism ministries (TFE) at the Presbyterian Mission Agency have been asking each other questions about the practice of Sabbath such as, “What is it?”, “Why do we do Sabbath?” and “How do we depart, once we’ve participated in Sabbath?”